Copying a Virtual Machine

Copy a virtual machine (VM) if you want to clone an existing VM on your everRun system. For example, you can copy a healthy VM to create a new VM, or you can copy a VM that is not working properly and use the copy for troubleshooting purposes. (If you want to import or migrate a VM from a different system, see the overview in Creating and Migrating Virtual Machines.)

To copy a VM, select a VM on the Virtual Machines page and click Copy. A wizard steps you through the process of renaming and allocating resources to the new VM.

Copying a VM creates an identical VM with a unique SMBIOS UUID, system serial number, MAC addresses, and hardware ID.

To copy a VM on the everRun system

1. On the Physical Machines page (see The Physical Machines Page), verify that both PMs are in the running state and that neither PM is in maintenance mode or in the process of synchronizing.
2. On the Virtual Machines page (see The Virtual Machines Page), select the VM that you want to copy and click Shutdown.
3. When the VM has stopped, click Copy to open the copy wizard.
4. On the Name, Description, and Protection page:
   1. Type the Name and an optional Description for the VM as they will appear in the everRun Availability Console.
   2. Select the level of protection to use for the VM:
      • Fault Tolerant (FT)
      • High Availability (HA)

      For information about these levels of protection, see Creating a New Virtual Machine and Modes of Operation.

   3. Click Next.

5. On the vCPUs and Memory page:

   1. Specify the number of vCPUs and the amount of Memory to assign to the VM. For more information, see Planning Virtual Machine vCPUs and Planning Virtual Machine Memory.
   2. Click Next.

6. On the Volumes page, you can:
   • Type the volume Name.
   • Specify the Container Size and Volume Size of each volume to make room for snapshots.

   • Assign each volume to a Storage Group.

     Ensure that you select a Storage Group that supports the sector size of the volume you are copying (see Planning Virtual Machine Storage) and select the Sector Size that matches the source volume (the copy feature cannot convert the sector size of a volume). Note that the boot volume must have a sector size of 512 B. You can select the sector size, either 4K or 512B, only for data disks.

   • Specify a Sector Size.

   • Click Add New Volume to create a new data volume. (If the button is not visible, scroll down to the bottom of the wizard page.)

   For more information, see Planning Virtual Machine Storage. To continue, click Next.

7. On the Networks page, activate the check box for each shared network that you want to attach to the VM.

8. On the Copy Summary page:

   1. Review the configuration summary. If you need to make changes, click Back.
   2. To proceed with copying the VM, click Finish.

After the copy process is complete; the everRun system may continue to synchronize data between PMs to enable HA or FT operation.